by Susannah George, June 06, 2016.

AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo

Iraqi forces secured the southern edge of the Islamic State
group stronghold of Fallujah on Sunday, two weeks after the launch of
an operation to recapture the city, the Iraqi special forces commander
overseeing the operation said.

Iraqi special forces, also known as its counterterrorism forces, have
secured the largely agricultural southern neighborhood of Naymiyah
under cover of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, Lt. Gen. Abdel Wahab
al-Saadi said. Special forces are now poised to enter the main city,
al-Saadi said.


The Fallujah operation coincides with a twin offensive on
IS-strongholds in neighboring Syria. Syrian Kurdish forces are advancing
on Manbij, an IS-held city controlling the supply route between the
Turkish border and the town of Raqqa, the militants’ de facto capital.
At the same time, Syrian government troops are advancing on Raqqa from
the south.


The slow-moving Iraqi operation was announced in May. An array of
troops including Iraqi military divisions, the federal police and the
largely Shiite militia groups, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces,
had cleared IS from the majority of Fallujah’s suburbs.


On Monday, Iraq’s elite special forces began pushing into the city
center, but they have faced stiff resistance as Fallujah has been under
IS control for more than two years, and the militants have been able to
erect complex defenses.

Tall dirt berms dot the dusty fields to the city’s south. 
A single
column of counterterrorism Humvees snaked up toward a row of low lying
houses that mark the beginning of the main city.


“VIBED! VIBED!” shouted an Iraqi air commander from a small mobile
base on Fallujah’s southern edge. Using an acronym for a car bomb, the
Iraqi special forces officer called to Australian coalition forces over a
hand-held radio. Moments later, a plume of white, then black smoke
appeared on the horizon. Commanders at the scene said the explosion was
created by a coalition rocket destroying the incoming car bomb.


Car bombs were once the most deadly form of IS counterattack for
Iraq’s special forces, who have taken the lead in a number of anti-IS
operations, including in the cities of Tikrit and Ramadi. Al-Saadi, who
also commanded the Tikrit operation, says coalition air power in
Fallujah has prevented car bombs from inflicting casualties on his
forces, but they have still succeeded in slowing progress.

“We are expecting many more,” once inside the city’s more urban neighborhoods, al-Saadi said.


Fallujah is one of the last strongholds of IS in Iraq. While the
militants once held nearly a third of the country’s territory, their
grip has slipped to less than half that, according to the Iraqi Prime
Minister Haider al-Abadi. IS still controls patches of territory in
northern and western Iraq, as well as its second largest city, Mosul.

SOURCE: Associated Press